Some of the News
by Slipgate
Summary: In which Kim talks tabloids.


**Title: Some of the News**

**Story summary: In which Kim talks tabloids.**

**Disclaimer: **_**I came up with this story this morning, which is long after someone else came up with **_**Kim Possible. **_**Also, candy is dandy, but reviews are my muse.**_

**~*~*KP*~*~**

**Some of the News**

**by Slipgate**

Kim Possible strode down the sidewalk, feeling like a walk in the park was just what the summer day ordered. Her new boyfriend (_wow_) of just a month and a half, Ron Stoppable, was having some guy time with Felix. She'd made sure to leave him that morning with a kiss that had induced one of his increasingly frequent brain freeze moments before she'd left him to mash mummies all day. Jeal? _Her?_ Maybe one time, but not any more. As she walked casually for her destination, she pulled out a fantastic-looking apple she'd plucked from the fruit dish at home, and took a bite.

"Ms. Possible?" a voice suddenly asked.

Kim stopped and turned, munching on the bite of her apple, to see a friendly-looking woman with a pressed suit, a stylish pair of rimless glasses, her reddish brown hair in a loose ponytail/bun hybrid, and a notepad and pen.

_What are the odds?_ Kim mused as she held a finger up and worked to finish chewing and swallow her bite of apple.

"Yes?" she asked, once her mouth was clear of food.

"Sherry Porter, _Middleton Gazette_. Do you have anything to say about what the tabloids are saying about you?"

_Weird_, Kim thought. _She's not like a paparazzi but there isn't even a hello?_

"Any relation to Dr. Vivian Francis Porter?" Kim joked.

"No. But I do consider myself lucky to be the great-granddaughter of the _Middleton Gazette_ founder, Harry Ray Porter."

_Definitely weird_, Kim decided.

"What are the tabloids saying about me?" Kim asked. "I'll be honest, I don't know what the tabloids are saying about me. But, considering they're tabloids I have to assume that whatever stories you're talking about aren't true."

Sherry had been jotting quickly on her notepad and stopped to look up. "But, Ms. Possible, aren't there noted instances when a tabloid ended up involved in some real news?" she asked eagerly.

"Call me Kim. And what are you talking about?"

"Well, notably, it's been pointed out that the photo from back in the day when Michael Jackson appeared to be sleeping in an oxygen chamber was one he intentionally posed for in 1986. His PR figured it would cultivate one image and go one way and instead it became something that dogged him negatively for years and that he claimed was a fake photo on the Oprah Winfrey interview in 1993."

"All really way before my time," Kim admitted. "How did he intend for it to go?"

"My guess is sympathy or specialty rather than being viewed as weird… anyway, the other notable example is one where the _National Enquirer_ actually made a discovery in a murder investigation and did go to police with it. The police asked them to hold off on publishing anything so they would catch the culprit without him getting wind of it. Apparently the _Enquirer_ really wanted to publish something but had the sense to hold off until an arrest was made and ended up not getting to scoop it after all."

Kim's eyebrows rose. "Which case is this?" she asked.

"Uh, I don't remember." Sherry admitted. "I know I once heard the chief editor of the _Enquirer_ talking about it on TV. I do remember the police said some vague comment about the _Enquirer_ being of use to apprehending the suspect, so I believe it."

_Yup, weird reporter_, Kim mused as she took another bite of her apple. Still, she figured she would talk to her for a few minutes for her to get to her point. If there was some nasty rumor about her, she could at least find out about it. She realized there was little point in denying it.

"Anyway, both of those instances show where the tabloids were actually given material themselves or got material themselves that was for real. The Michael Jackson one was one where a celebrity gave something to a tabloid themselves and then decried it later on as if they hadn't been involved in spinning the story." the reporter said. "I figure that's not the only time a celebrity gave something to a tabloid themselves even if they were denying having given it later on."

Kim looked at her. Then the mental gears clicked in place. "So you're asking me if there have ever been any times I did talk to a tabloid?" Kim offered and took another bite.

"Yes, exactly," Sherry said, impressed. "Have there ever been any times when tabloids have spoken to you, that maybe we would know if there was any basis in a story that was in a tabloid?"

"Hmm," Kim thought, her lips compressing in thought. "Well, you know, I've never spoken to a tabloid explicitly, like I haven't talked to _National Enquirer_, which is the one that jumps to my mind I guess, or any others either."

"Have you ever talked to the _Onion_?"

"I might've read articles in that. Ron likes it." Kim said, remembering a few funny ones Ron had managed to get her to check out. "You know, while I really _haven't_ talked to anything that was a tabloid specifically, I do know that sometimes when press gather around for a comment either at a crime scene or as I'm coming out of a mission, that I get asked questions by the press to some degree. And you know, I'm sure that when there's a gathering of some different people from the press, it's just as likely one of those people is from _National Enquirer_ as it is that they're from _Washington Post_, I guess."

"So never anything directly with a tabloid?"

"No… not that I know of unless other press outlets were around too. I've just seen various people milling around for me to make some comment when I come out of some missions."

Sherry was writing furiously on her notepad and flipped the page up. She spent a moment silently mouthing something as she wrote a few more words and finally paused her pen and looked up. "And what do you do at those times?"

"Generally I just comment on whatever the situation is. Maybe DNAmy stole something and I'll mention DNAmy stole that thing but we got it back."

"I see. That's all?"

Something had been tickling the back of Kim's mind, and she realized that as strange as this reporter had been, Sherry Porter had done her a service in the direction she'd approached this from.

"Yeah. I appreciate your asking me this way. That generally makes it so that my unfamiliarity with what's said about me in tabloids really does show as the unfamiliarity it is." Kim noticed that Sherry had lifted her pen away from the notepad and was absently twirling it. _In some respects, she's in my corner,_ Kim thought with a quirk of her lips. "But you know," she continued, "I have to admit you've got me curious about this tabloid sitch. Are they saying something about me I should be worried about?"

"Well, in the wake of the Little Diablos attack by Dr. Drakken, it's been suggested by tabloids that you and your sidekick Ron have become involved together." Sherry repeated diplomatically.

Kim's right eyebrow arched. "Tabloids talked about that?"

"Yes."

"Did any legitimate press talk about it?" Kim asked in curiosity.

"Not that I've seen in my crawling through newspapers and online archives." Sherry said, twirling the pen unused in one hand.

"There were questions I answered to a grouping of press the night of the Little Diablos, before Drakken and Shego were loaded in the paddy wagon, and the next day when it was still the top story worldwide."

"So?" Sherry asked, curiously, as the pen returned to the notepad and began to jot.

"The answer is yes," Kim said, "I am dating my best friend Ron now. The day after, when the press swarmed us and I… we talked in front of them all in general, it happened to be kind of evident then, yes, because we were holding hands when we spoke to the press and we shared a quick kiss before we talked to all the press, and another when we headed out. Nobody really asked us about doing that stuff. I mean yeah, if the tabloids noted that, then they noted something they and serious newspapers would've all seen. But I guess based on what you're saying, the serious newspapers didn't comment on it."

"Like I said, none that I looked up." Sherry confirmed.

"It's not something any of the press asked us about. I figure even the tabloids realized that the big news of the day had to be the worldwide Diablo attack. Which I guess brings me up to a valid question for me – why is this news now?" Kim asked, taking another bite of her apple.

"Well," Sherry said, "it's been a month and a half, and the world's been recuperating. The _Middleton Gazette_ is a small hometown newspaper, you know, and we see both you and Ron as hometown heroes and want to do a hometown story that's about something else for a change."

Kim smiled and took another bite of her apple. She hadn't been taking very large bites, but it was starting to shrink at last. After she swallowed, she said, "Personally, Ron and my private life is our private life. As far as what the press should ask us about, it's one thing to ask us about Diablo Night, it's another to ask us about our relationship. So I can see good reason for the serious newspapers to report on the serious news but not comment on our relationship. I guess there was at least one tabloid out there that did want to talk about something else I guess?"

"More than one." Sherry said. "There's some variation in the stories circling."

"Okay, well, here's the thing. I mean, we were never talked to about it, and all they would've seen is what I already mentioned to you. They didn't make any claims about us that jump to conclusions or go over the top, did they?"

"Umm…" Sherry said, thinking, "there was one that suggested maybe you'd always been involved secretly and were finally slipping up on showing it now."

Kim snorted. "Mmm, not quite, but I'm not going to worry about contradicting that, because the way I see it it's more important that Ron and I are together now than what people might say about before."

Sherry jotted one thing down and then said, "Okay. The other thing is, ummm, that there are some stories out there like, that you've been secretly married or that you have a baby or so on."

"These have just spun up since Diablo Night?" Kim asked, honestly surprised. No matter how great the relationship was going, hearing about such things was _way_ jumping the gun.

"Well, no, not really. Prior to Diablo Night there were some tabloids suspecting that you guys were in a relationship. Anyways it's generally those tabloids that, now that there is a relationship, seem to be trying to take the story one step further past what's already known _again_." Sherry jotted another note nervously.

"Well, I hope Ron and I work out like I hope…" Kim flailed to change track when she saw Sherry's eyebrows rise, "well, er, Ron is my boyfriend. I don't _intend_ to change that. So, unless something goes poorly, we hope to be together long term. That's all I can really say about that, because anything else is _really_ too premature for two people who've been dating a month and a half tops."

Sherry looked deathly curious but relented at last. She smiled and asked, "So are you guys enjoying your summer vacation?"

Kim sighed in relief. "Well, it's an interesting summer vacation in that, this time, instead of just being friends, we're a couple, and we have a break from the obligations of school for a while. We have this you know, this new aspect to our relationship. Considering we're free on evenings instead of needing to do homework, Ron's really taking advantage of the fact that he can go out on a date with me as often as he can. We're still early on and in that heady new relationship rush and it feels great." Kim smiled. "Anyway, Ms. Porter…"

"Sherry, if I'm supposed to call you Kim." Sherry replied, smiling.

"I've never approached any tabloids for anything. And I have no plans to do anything like that. I know that celebrities often need to want to capture attention and keep it. I've become known for what I do, but… I don't want to stop helping people, but I don't do it to be known. There are celebrities who need to remain in the public consciousness and remain popular and remain known, and you know, put themselves out there, so maybe that's why some _have _legitimately talked to tabloids as you've said."

Kim's diction made it clear she wasn't finished, but Sherry was writing so fast to keep up that Kim paused and took a munch out of the rapidly shrinking apple to give the girl a chance.

When Sherry looked up with an acknowledging head nod, Kim continued. "For me, I like helping people and want to continue helping people, but I do it so that the people are helped. I don't do it because I'm trying to otherwise be known specifically. And for that reason, unlike a celebrity might allow some exposure, for me, for what I… I'm perfectly content with letting the private details of my life stay private. There's my Web site – if you need help, ask for it and I'll try and help you. I've gotten known for that reason, but I'm not trying to get known for other reasons, at least not on that scale." Kim paused to consider what she was saying, then added, "I mean, granted, I am trying to have good grades in school. There was an interview with _Spirit Squad Weekly_, **the** cheerleading magazine, that I really would've liked to have been able to do but I ended up botching it and it was given to someone else on the squad.

"But you know, I'll put myself out there in the ways I'm interested in putting myself out there, like how I'm trying to have good grades and how I'm trying to be successful as a cheerleader on the national level, and so on. **But** my private life is my private life and the missions I do are just to help people and not part of me trying to put myself out there. And I have to admit that, you know, especially given negative stereotypes about cheerleaders, that tabloids would probably **not** be the way to go about positively putting myself out there as a cheerleader." Kim admitted with a grin and then a chuckle.

Sherry chuckled too. "No, perhaps not." Then she dropped her head back to her notepad and finished writing whatever she was putting down at the moment.

When she looked at Kim again, Kim could tell her mouth was poised to ask a question. "So, you mentioned earlier that Ron and yourself were taking advantage of the opportunity to date frequently considering it was summer and you guys didn't have school obligations?" Sherry asked.

"Umm, yeah, I did say that." Kim said, fearing that the conversation would get personal.

"So, then as I let you go here Kim, are you getting ready for a date tonight?" Sherry asked with a broadening grin.

Kim stood tall, smiled, and tossed the last little piece of apple in her mouth. Finishing it, she replied, "Now come on, that's _private_ now, isn't it?"

_**fin**_


End file.
